That Red Colored Sky
by KitaKaze
Summary: Confused as to how they got back to Amestris, Ed and Al are looking for answers.Meeting two traveling alchemists changes all that.They're hiding a big secret that has the homonculous after them.And just when they thought they all were free... EdXOC, AlxOC
1. Prologue: Alchemy is not omnipotent

So I decided to try my hand at Fullmetal Alchemist while I'm in a slump with my normal writing. I've recently started reading it over again, so bear with me if some things are wrong I'm going off the anime and the movie, but I'm throwing in elements of the manga as well. In which case... It's a whole new homunculous situation, seeing as how they died either at the end of the first series or the movie. Yep.

Summary: Confused as to how they got back to Amestris, Ed and Al are looking for answers. Meeting two traveling alchemists changes all that. They're hiding a big secret that has the homonculous after them. And just when they thought they all were free... EdXOC, later AlxOC

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I just own the plot and my OCs.**

**

* * *

**

Prologue

_Alchemy is a science where one understands the structure of matter, breaks it down, and rebuilds it. However, it is not omnipotent, as one cannot create something out of nothing. If one wishes to gain something, one must first present something of equal value. This is the concept of equivalent exchange, the fundamental basis of alchemy. However, there is a taboo in alchemy. _

_Human transmutation. _

_One must never commit this act. _

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

It was too quiet after the brilliant flash of light that followed the transmutation. At first, the girl could only hear the sound of her shallow breathing, too shocked by what had just happened to feel her own pain. Her right sleeve was splattered with blood- her own due to the missing limb. The same went for her left leg. She wasn't screaming at all. She just sat, shocked, at the edge of the transmutation circle.

"What just happened?" asked a shaky voice. The girl turned to see her older brother staring at her, his body in a similar state to her own. Instead of missing his right arm and left leg, he was missing his left arm and right leg. "What did we do?"

"Something Mom and Dad told us never to do…" The girl's blue-grey eyes were wide, gaping at the dark mass she could just barely see in the gloom. "Jon, we just broke the taboo. Oh, my God, we tried-"

"Human transmutation," Jon said. He looked around them. "Allie, where's Doctor?"

"I don't care!" Allie cried, visibly trying to hold back tears. "That bastard made us do this! I told him a million times...!"

She started crying. Jon heard through her crying, "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Jon heard someone in the house above them. The basement was made of brick, a lower level, and there were steps that led up into a corridor that led to the room above the basement. He could try yelling and hoped desperately that someone would hear him. Already Allie seemed weak from blood loss.

"Help! Someone!" Jon screamed at the top of his lungs. He heard the footsteps again, running towards the door. A small girl threw open the door. Although unable to see the face, Jon knew who it was. It was Melia, the Doctor's daughter. She was carrying the stuffed cat that had been given to her earlier that day, at her birthday party.

"Jon…?" Melia said uncertainly. "What-"

She screamed when she saw the blood. Jon waved his right arm frantically, trying to keep conscious. "Melia, Melia, listen! Please, just listen! Allie and I are very hurt. Find Claire and tell her that we need help."

"Daddy?" Melia called. She sounded frightened. "Daddy? Where are you?"

"Melia!" Jon yelled over her. "Find Claire NOW!"

Melia stood shaking in the doorway for a few seconds more before turning and running. That was all Jon needed to see before he fell unconscious.

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

Jon didn't know what had happened to the Doctor. When he was allowed to, he begged Claire's husband to carry him back to the basement. However, Jon didn't allow him to go down the steps. Jon slid down the steps and leaned against a wall. He grimaced at the sight.

With the lanterns dimmed, it was hard for Jon to see anything. When he turned up the three closest ones, he saw what he and his sister had done. There was a large transmutation circle that the Doctor had drawn before… Jon didn't even want to think about. He saw the large dried puddles of blood where he and Allie had been laying before Claire hurried over to save them. He saw the larger pool of blood near the middle of the circle. There was a mass there that could be barely recognizable as the human they had been trying to bring back to life. In the gloom beyond the reach of the three brighter lanterns, Jon wondered if the body of the Doctor was even there. Had it, too, been used as a sacrifice, just like his arm and leg? Or maybe he had just lost a limb, like Jon. Whatever the outcome was, Jon hoped that the Doctor was dead, for Allie's sake.

He struggled back up the steps and collapsed into Claire's husband's arms. He didn't go to sleep when Claire told him to. His thoughts were too active.

The Doctor betrayed them.

He had harmed Allie.

That thought brought rage to Jon. He had never let anything this bad happen to her. In a second, the Doctor had taken away their lives. He had taken away everything that meant something to them. To Jon, this was his legs, although one still remained. He could be glad for that. Allie lost one of her arms, something that had always been important to her as an alchemist. That stupid Doctor, thinking he governed human lives!

Melia.

"Claire!" Jon said, careful not to wake Allie. She hadn't once woken up since the transmutation five days ago. "Where's Melia?"

"Iris's child?" Claire said, poking her head into the room. "I haven't seen her since she came to me."

Jon had a look of horror on his face. When Claire realized what he was thinking, she was horrified too. "She ran away!" Claire said in shock.

"More than likely," Jon said softly. He clenched his right hand. "Damn!"

"Jon!"

"What? I'm thirteen. I can say that."

"Not that," Claire said. "I'm-I should've watched her instead of leaving her in the house alone!"

Jon wanted to comfort Claire. No one save for Claire and her husband knew exactly what had happened that night, and Jon wanted to keep it that way.

"You did fine, Mrs. Claire," Jon said. "I think it's my fault."

"No, it's not."

Jon wouldn't budge on his stance in Melia's escape. He was keeping the blame on himself. To him, Melia was like another younger sister. On occasion, while they had been playing tag as little kids, she'd call him 'Nii-chan'. Allie never minded sharing him because Allie thought of Melia like an older sister. He lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He watched as the candle threw dancing shadows across the ceiling. Then he turned his head to face Allie. Claire was afraid that Allie would die.

And Jon wasn't going to let that happen.

He struggled out of bed and went to sit on Allie's. He put a hand on her black hair.

"I promise that I'll get you back to normal, Al," he said. He clenched his fist and kept his tears from falling. "I promise!"

He heard Allie say, as faint as it was, "And I promise you, Bro."

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

_Present day_

The nineteen-year-old girl sat with crossed legs at the edge of the room. Her ginger red hair was unkempt from days of traveling.

"Miss, is this going to work?" she asked, clutching the black stuffed cat closer to her. A woman wearing a very revealing dress nodded.

"Don't worry, this will get you closer to finding your dad," said the lady. The girl nodded, watching with unwavering green eyes at what was going on.

Three men were tied to stone pillars. The woman stood to the side of the one to the far left.

"You're going to give us exactly what we want," the woman said for all three men to hear. "Do you understand that? Three alchemists of state qualification should be enough. It's that equivalent exchange you alchemists keep prattling on about. You know, I think you'll die painlessly. When you see the Gate, call out the names of the Elric brothers. What? You don't know? Their names are Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric. Come on, now, it isn't that hard."

"I refuse!" the man on the far right said. Both ladies looked at him in disgust. "The dead stay dead!"

"Oh, but they're not dead," said the woman. Before she did anything, the shadows around the man moved. She decided to remain still to watch what the girl did next. Three daggers were embedded in the ground around the man. They were the central point for the shadows. They wrapped around the pillar and the man. The others could hear choking sounds coming from him as the shadows constricted around the man's throat.

The teenager stood up, her eyes holding a kind of insanity the men had never seen before. The cat doll hung from one hand, a dagger was clenched in the other. She said every word carefully like the men were idiots. "Do it. Otherwise, you'll die a slow, poor, unfortunate death just as this man will for speaking out. I'll bet you've never seen shadow alchemy used before. It's not just a legend, boys. Anyone can use it."

"Now, now, don't get carried away," the woman said, waving her hand in front of her face. "We need three to make sure that those two will come back."

The girl paused for a few seconds. The only sound was the man's choking. Soon the girl grabbed all of her three daggers and the shadows faded. The man took a deep breath, but he didn't need it. The woman held her index finger to the first man's temple.

"Remember what we told you to do!" she said cheerfully before her finger became razor sharp and extended. It penetrated all the men's skulls. She swiped downwards, cutting off the top part of their heads. The girl didn't flinch when all the blood splattered onto the floor. It reminded her of another scene she had seen years earlier. The woman saw disappoint written all over the girl's face.

"It's probably going to take a while," the woman said. "Let's go bother Envy. He's still self-conscious about his appearance. He's just like the old one, I swear."

"Yes… Lust," the girl said, following the woman out of the room. She glanced back once more to see if anything happened before leaving the room for good.

It was only several hours later when two young men dropped to the floor. One had honey blond hair. The other had bright blond hair and a prosthetic arm.

* * *

So? How was it? Comment and critiques welcome! If you don't like it, while, there's a little red X button in the top right hand corner. Click on it.


	2. Hijack 1

I'm back~ XD I'm still catching up with the manga. Lust died! No way! D': I'm only on chapter 45, so she died a while back. Lust died... Man. And I feel so bad for Havoc. I hope they find Marco and fix Havoc's legs... Aside from my random prattle, let's get on with the story, shall we?

**Disclaimer: I don not own Fullmetal Alchemist, only Jonathan and Alexandria (Allie).**

**Chapter 1: Hijack Part1**

Edward wasn't too pleased about getting thrown back into Amestris with no warning. He and Al had had to sneak out of whatever room they were in, grimacing at the corpses of three men, all with their brains spilling out of their head, and ran down a corridor with no one in it. They, surprisingly, got outside. Now the two were trying to think of a good excuse to explain to anyone who might even barely remembered them why they were back. Couldn't be too careful since they had no idea which town they were in. Nothing was coming to mind.

It wasn't like anyone _would_ recognize them in the first place. Al's hair was short in the back, long fringe in the front. He was nineteen and taller than Ed by two or three inches. He had a sweet innocent feeling about him, and it was reflected in his face. Ed had allowed his hair to grow, keeping it back in a simple ponytail. He was only about 5'6", which he had come to very shaky terms with two years before. Unfortunately, Al had to watch what he said because Ed chose the worst times to explode about his height.

Alphonse had led Ed to a street out of the small country town. They had no idea where they were, but Ed was guessing somewhere near the north because of the chill. Trees lined the dirt road all the way to the horizon. They hadn't gotten very far when they saw a group of about six men, all of them wearing black and a ski mask, formed a half circle in front of two others. It was two travelers, both dressed similarly.

The girl had long black hair tied back, her bangs framing her face. She was wearing a black coat that reached her ankles. Underneath that was a black t-shirt and black pants. The right leg was cut off and resembled shorts. Ed caught a glint of silver running from her belt to her pocket. She was wearing white gloves.

The male next to her was much taller than she was and a blond, but was dressed almost the same. The only difference was that his coat was shorter and went just past his knees. It had pockets too. He was wearing white pants and a black shirt. He was wearing a leather belt with two chains hanging from it. He had a briefcase in one hand.

"Come on, we just want to get to the train station," said the boy. He rubbed the back of his head. "Really. We're going to be late for our train."

"Really, Jon, we've said that how many times?" sighed the girl. She glared at the guys. "We don't have any money on us."

"Lies!" spat the man in the middle.

"Oh, Allie, I think they want a fight," Jon said.

"Great," Allie groaned. "We might miss our train."

"Let's hurry- Shit!" Jon lunged at the man closest to him. That one had a gun and was fumbling with the holster. Jon grabbed the back of the guy's head and kneed him in the gut. Allie got in a straight punch at someone who lunged at her.

"Watch out!" Al yelled. Another guy had snuck up on Allie from behind. "Brother, we have to help them!"

"Geez, we've been back for ten minutes and we already get in trouble," Ed muttered. He clapped his hands together and transmuted a spear. The light of the transmutation alerted the eight fighting. While the men in black froze, Allie and Jon took one quick look like the transmutation was nothing. Jon knocked out the guy he was fighting with. The one holding Allie got his senses back the quickest and lifted her up by her shirt.

"Crap!" Allie said. "Let me go!"

Ed rammed into the guy, making him drop Allie. There were only five people left to fight, and four of them were fighting. Out of the corner of his eye, Al saw the last man holding a gun.

"Careful!" Allie said, clapping her hands together- an action that shocked the brothers- and slammed her hands to the ground. An earthen fist erupted from underneath the man and sent him flying. "That'll take care of him for a while."

"You can use alchemy without a circle?" Ed asked.

"No," Allie answered, showing him the palms of her gloves. There were two transmutation circles drawn on them, both standing for earth transmutation. She jumped and kicked the one she was fighting in the temple. He crashed to the floor. Ed side-stepped the man attacking him and grabbed his outstretched arm. With the result of years of practice, he flipped the guy over. Jon elbowed the leader in the face then swung his hand back around and broke the leader's nose. Al trapped his attacker in a cage.

Jon brushed off his pants and smiled at the Elrics. "Hey, thanks for helping us out," he said. "Where are you guys from?"

"Resembool," Ed automatically answered.

"Resembool, huh?" Jonathan shrugged. "That's a small town, isn't it? Here."

He rummaged around in his pocket before pulling out crumpled bills. "Take that as thanks. You guys look a bit lost. Get to where you need to, all right?"

"Jon, the train's coming!" Allie said urgently.

"Alright, alright! Give me a sec," Jon laughed. He grinned at them again. "I get the feeling we'll meet again. See ya later!"

Allie impatiently grabbed his arm and took off running towards the train station the brothers had just passed. Ed was staring after them, mouth wide open. He was still trying to comprehend what was going on.

"Wait! We never got your names!" Al called.

"If you go to Central, look up McIntera!" The two ran into the train station. For a few seconds, neither Ed nor Al said anything. Then they took a look at the amount of money that Jon had handed Ed.

"HOW CAN HE AFFORD TO GIVE US THIS KIND OF MONEY?!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Elrics bought train tickets to Central and ran onto the train just seconds before it left the station. They were headed towards Central because they were going to see none other than the Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang (and Ed really didn't want to). Both of them agreed they needed to find out how long they had been gone and what had happened since then. And with the amount of money that Jon had given them, they could easily buy several train tickets to go wherever they needed to go. They were going to visit Resembool after going to Central to see Pinako and Winry. After that, they had no clue.

All the other train cars they went to were partially full. Ed ignored all of the odd stares and headed for the next car, the second-to-last. He opened the door and took a seat close to it. Al sat opposite from him.

"Aren't they the McInteras, Brother?" Al asked quietly, pointing to the only other people in the car.

"So what? They could be heading towards some other stop," Ed said, but he turned anyway. Al was right. Jon and Allie were in a seat closer to the middle of the car. Allie was asleep. Jon was staring out the window, resting his chin on one hand. Ed was determined to get some answers.

"Hey, you," he said. Jon looked up and at Ed.

"Oh, hey, it's the blond from earlier!"

"My name isn't 'the blond from earlier', it's Edward Elric!"

Jon's mouth dropped open. "The Fullmetal Alchemist? Nice to meet you!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not the Fullmetal Alchemist anymore," Ed muttered. Jon stood up, making sure he didn't wake up Allie, and moved to sit behind Ed. He didn't hear what Ed had just said.

"I didn't get to properly introduce myself," Jon said. "I'm Jonathan McIntera."

"I'm Alphonse Elric," Al said.

"What year is it?" Ed asked Jon.

"1925."

"WHAT?" Ed quickly calculated how long it had been since he and Al and left Amestris. Four years had passed in Amestris. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"I'm nineteen," Al said. Jon grinned.

"Nice."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ed said. "Al, there's probably the whole time issue."

"Oh, yeah." Al had forgotten about that.

"What time issue? Aren't you guys from Resembool?" Jon looked horribly confused.

"It's a long story," Ed said, rubbing his temples. "I don't see the point of telling you."

"Really, shorty?"

Ed twitched. "I'm not short! Stand up!"

Jon grinned and stood up. Ed sulked because Jon was about Al's height. Al laughed.

"Dammit! I'm twenty!" Ed muttered.

"You haven't been around in a while, Ed," Jon said.

"Huh?"

"No one's heard from the Fullmetal Alchemist in four years."

"Yeah, well… He's dead," Ed said.

"You gave up state qualification?"

"Yeah."

"Whoa. Don't we wish we could do that…" Jon's voice trailed off.

"You're a state alchemist?"

"No."

"Then what the hell are you talking about?"

"Something." Jon brushed it off and changed the conversation. They continued to talk even as the train stopped and let more people on. Allie still hadn't woken up to any of the bumps. That was, until the most recent stop at a larger city along the way to Central. The train car was humming with hushed conversations until s group of four men burst into the train compartment. Everyone paused. Ed frowned.

_Not again_, he thought.

"Everyone, don't move! We're hijacking this train!" said the bulkiest man in the group. "Make your way to the back of the car!" Ed, Al, and Jon were the last ones to move. They passed Allie, still asleep.

"Aren't you going to wake her up?" Al asked.

"Just watch," Jon whispered. "Allie's been awake for about ten minutes now."

One of the men poked Allie. "What do we do about this one? She isn't waking up."

"We'll let the boss handle her later," said the bulky man. Ed swore quietly. It was at a time like this he wished he had automail again. When the men's back was turned, Allie stood up and joined Ed.

"You can use alchemy, right?" she whispered. "Help me take out these guys. You too." She nodded at Al.

"Why are you dragging us into this?" Ed demanded. She gave him a 'do-you-really-need-to-ask' stare. "We're just travelers-"

"Just help me," she said simply. "Right… Now!"

"Wha-?" He was left behind as Allie and Jonathan jumped forward. Behind Ed, Al groaned, but helped anyway. Ed clapped his hands and grabbed the gun of one of the four men. The end turned into a little trumpet. Jon smirked and jumped, snapping out a kick that everyone in the train heard when it made contact with the man.

"Don't break his neck!" Allie scolded, using alchemy herself to transmute the gun she had wrestled from the one she had jumped into a scrap of metal. She ducked under his arm and palmed him in the kidney. He howled in pain. Al stepped to the side of the one rushing him and stuck his foot out. The guy tripped over it and landed on the aisle. He touched a hand to the seat and metal bindings wrapped around the man. Ed and Allie were doing the same. Jon just alchemized the man's watch and gun.

"That was easy," Ed commented.

"Something tells me these guys aren't professionals," said Al. The other passengers were panicking.

"What if someone heard the fight?"

"You're going to kill us!"

"Maybe you're with them!"

Jon held up his hand and waited for them to quiet down. "I promise you we're not with them. We're going to make sure this train gets back into the right hands. We'll reach Central with no damages. Trust me."

Allie opened a window and looked up at the top. She had a mischievous look on her face.

"You're not planning to climb on top of the train, are you?" Ed said.

"No, I'm planning to jump out, idiot!" Allie said sarcastically. "Of course I'm going to climb up."

"Let me come with you."

"I can do it myself."

"You're a kid."

"I'm seventeen!"

"I wouldn't have known with how short you are," Ed said, ready to antagonize the girl until she let him go with her. He wasn't exactly a stranger to climbing out of the train. He was rewarded when Allie twitched.

"Brother!" Al said, exasperated. How typical of Ed.

"Fine. I'm going first, though," Allie said, carefully climbing out the window and onto the roof.

"Al, stay here with Jonathan and watch for any more of those thugs," Ed said before following her. The two left behind exchanged a look.

"Who wants to go investigate the rest of the train?"

* * *

This chapter reached seven pages on word... That's a new record for me! The most I've ever written for any chapter, my own story or fanfic, was six pages! I'm so happy!!! Plus, the Harry Potter movie is coming out soon!!! Yay! I'm so excited about that! Ravenclaw FTW!

* * *


	3. Hijack 2

At first, I didn't know what to do with this chapter, but then I decided to get them to Central and meet the new Fuhrer. GUESS WHO? I promise everyone that the AlxOC will be introduced in the next chapter. If not the next, then most definitely the one after. Plus it's free cookies for all. XD

**Disclaimer: I do not own FMA. I only own Alex and Jonathan and the plot line. **

**

* * *

Chapter 2: Hijack Part 2**

"I swear I'm going to push you off this freakin' train if you don't shut up!"

Allie glared at Ed as the two of them were heading towards the front of the train via the roof. Ed was gloating because he was moving a lot more quickly than Allie was.

"Come on, McIntera, can't even walk?"

"Shut up!" She moved forward another few inches.

_If looks could kill, I'd be dead several times over,_ Ed thought.

"Hey, blondie," Allie said.

"My name's not blondie!"

"That's what you get for calling me a kid! My name is Alexandria, you jerk!"

"I'm Edward. So no more 'blondie', got it?!"

They both glared at each other. Ed held his hand out. "You're slow. Let's catch these bastards fast, Allie."

"Alex!"

"My name's Ed, not-"

She shook her head and took his hand, pulling herself up. Ed was surprised by how strong her grip was. "Call me Alex."

"Okay then, Alex. Let's go."

Ed had to help Alex move across the moving train. They moved faster now, and every once in a while one of them would check the car they were on to see if any of the thugs were there. In some cases, there were, but they couldn't do anything about it. They needed to find the ring leader. Alex soon found him in a train with some important-looking people.

"Found him," she said. Ed took a look for himself. Sure enough, there was one guy who was practically screaming 'I'm the leader'. It was pretty obvious by the way he held himself and the way he commanded the others.

"Pft. This guy looks nothing like that one other."

"Care to explain to me?"

"Later. Come on, we've got a train to retake."

Alex moved quickly now. She made her way over to the small connection between the two trains and dropped down onto it, hiding beneath the window.

"Hey, Ed? Since you've seem to have done this before, how'd you do it?"

"Transmuted the water tank and blasted water into the car. Al opened the door so no one drowned. "

"Think you can pull that off again?"

Why in the world was she asking such a simple stupid question? Ed laughed. "Of course! But first, we have to get the engineers."

He was already on the other car when he realized Alex wasn't following him. That idiot! She had dropped down without thinking. Now he had to go get the engineers on his own and use the water to wipe out the rest. If he got lucky and the leader wasn't as good as Bald had been, then they could tie them up no problem. He saw that there was only one guy guarding the two engineers.

_Really? _Ed thought to himself before swinging into the engine room. His foot made contact with the back of the man's head. The man would've hit the floor and more than likely would've jumped back up if one of the engineers hadn't slammed his shovel into the man's face. He was probably going to have a concussion.

Sucked to be him.

Ed climbed back onto the roof and yelled down to the engineers, "Hey, where's your water tank?"

"The one behind this! What are you planning to do?"

"I'm going to be using some water. Sorry!" Ed jumped onto the black car and knocked on it once or twice. There was definitely water in there. He wouldn't have had to worry about anything while Al had been a suit of armor, but this time the one helping him pull off this ridiculous plan was a seventeen-year-old girl who had issues. Great. He transmuted the water spout and waited for a five seconds before turning the handle. A torrent of water came out. After only two seconds, Ed quickly turned it off. He jumped down and glanced into the window. Well, it was sort of a success. Everyone that had been in there that was with the hijacker had been washed out.

The bad thing was that one man hadn't been swept away. He had clung to the door, the one Alex had opened, and was now fighting with Alex. She was yelling over her shoulder to the people, telling them to get back into one of the compartments. They were very happy to comply. Alex stumbled over a stray gun and fell head over heels to the floor.

"Stupid kid!" Ed muttered, slamming the door open and running in to help Alex. She looked behind her.

"Edward! This guy wasn't swept away, but the leader was- Let go!" The man grabbed the back of Alex's shirt and held a gun to her head. Ed swore.

"You stupid kid! That's the second time!"

Alex frowned. "I think I can count!"

Ed stepped forward, clapping his hands together, but the man pressed the gun more roughly to Alex's head. "Don't move," the guy said. "I'll kill her if you do."

"Damn…!" Ed said. "We've already dispatched your leader. What's the point of resisting?"

There was silence for a minute, then the guy burst out laughing. "That's hilarious, kid! I _am_ the leader of this group. And believe me when I say that I won't hesitate to kill this girl."

"Normally, when people say that, they hesitate," Alex said.

"Shut up, Alex, you're making this harder!" Ed said. Alex kept her mouth shut. The leader smirked.

"A fight between lovers? Interesting."

"WE'RE NOT LOVERS!" they both yelled at the same time. Ed lunged at the guy, transmuting a steel staff to use. Alex pushed the gun away with her right hand when it went off. She winced and held her hand to her. Ed swung the staff, but the man blocked it. Grabbing it, he tried to punch Ed. Ed grabbed his fist and kneed him in the stomach. The man doubled over. Alex jumped in and swept the man, then brought her right fist down into the man's face. Ed heard the man's nose break. He howled in pain.

"Do me a favor and stay down!" she said, frustrated. Ed looked out the window and saw that the station for Central was coming up. There were several men with military uniforms standing with guns in hand. Among them was a blonde lady who was also carrying a gun. She held it with ease.

"No way! Lieutenant Hawkeye?" Ed said, absolutely sure that it was indeed the female sniper. The train came to a halt and the military rushed on. They found Alex and Ed tying up the leader of the group.

"He's incapable of attacking at the moment," Alex told them. She was sure of herself. The two of them followed the military officers onto the platform, where Alex was immediately attacked by Jonathan.

"Allie!" he said, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She swatted his hand away. Ed suddenly remembered that she had been shot in the hand.

"Give me your hand," he said.

"Are you crazy, Edward? I'm perfectly –Ah."

As Ed had expected, there was a hole in the middle of the transmutation circle on her glove. What he totally didn't expect to see was that her right hand was steel. The bullet had ricocheted off of the steel, which explained the lack of blood. Alex yanked her hand away from a surprised Ed and shoved her hand into her pocket. She avoided his questioning gaze. Al was right behind Jonathan, but he was busy talking to Hawkeye.

"Edward? Is that really you?" she asked. Ed grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Long time no see, Lieutenant Hawkeye."

Al said, "She's not a lieutenant anymore, Brother."

"Oh."

Riza led the four to a car that was waiting for them. Ed sat in the front, the other three were in the back. As they made their way to the HQ, Alex said, "How's the idiot?"

"He's slacking off, as usual," Riza replied.

"What idiot are you talking about?" Ed asked. It clicked in an instant. "You mean Mustang?"

Alex gave him a strange look. "The one and only royal idiot."

"Alexandria, he's our superior. Treat him with a bit more respect," Riza said, although there was a ghost of a smile on her face. She knew about Ed and Al going to the other side of the Gate and that there was a lot of catching up to be done. Alex sighed and crossed her arms, staring out the window. When they got to Central HQ, Alex jumped out and started running.

"Where are you going?" Al called after her.

"I've got to talk to Mustang!" She added something else that the brothers couldn't hear, although she didn't seem too happy about it. Jonathan sighed and climbed out of the car.

"I'll see you later," he said. "Hawkeye, tell Falman that I'll come by soon. I promised him a match last time."

And with that, he followed Alex into HQ.

"What's that all about?" Ed asked.

Riza stopped the car and got out. "There's been a lot of changes, Edward, Alphonse. One of which would be that Roy Mustang is now Fuhrer."

Utter silence. Ed's mouth was hanging open. Roy Mustang as Fuhrer. That was something that would take a while to sink in.

"YOU'RE KIDDING ME!" Ed yelled.

"I'm not." Riza started up the steps. "If you'll come this way, I'm sure that the Fuhrer would be more than happy to see you."

"So where does that put you now?" Al said.

"I'm his personal assistant."

"You're pretty high up there."

"Yes." Riza led them through hallways they hadn't seen in years. Eventually she went into a room and left the brothers there. "After he's done with Alexandria, he'll talk to you."

"Yeah? I don't want to talk to him," muttered Ed.

"Try to be nice, Brother," Al said.

"No guarantees."

Riza left because of the message she had to give Falman from Jonathan. Whatever that was about. They were waiting for what seemed like hours (even though it was only a few minutes) until Alex's very angry voice yelled, "Damn it…! Stop making this so hard!"

Ed and Al glanced at each other. Ed got up and moved closer to the other door, putting his ear to it. Now he heard the hated voice of Roy, "I'm not forcing you to become one if you don't want to."

Something slammed onto something. Jonathan was trying to calm down his sister. It wasn't working very well.

"You're making this hard!" Alex repeated. "I don't want to be, but it's the only way to keep Dad's money and watch!"

"I'm not King Bradley," Roy said. "I won't force you to become something you don't want to be."

Alex was silent for a few moments. "…There are still members of the military who believe that the offspring of a dog should be a dog. I promised that I would become one, and I don't back down on my promises."

Roy sighed. "Very well. I'm telling you, you made your promise with a homunculus. He's dead."

"There are people who were there that expect me to keep that promise."

Ed was too slow in backing away from the door. It was opened by Alex, who stopped cold when she saw Ed standing there. Roy looked over her shoulder.

"Oh, hey, pipsqueak. Have you grown?"

* * *

...I totally couldn't help myself with that last line. Guess who's gonna have to avoid getting killed? XD

Please rate and review! It helps so much!


	4. The Girl with Shadow Alchemy

This chapter was pretty much born from the lack of sleep I had on Wensday due to the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I went to the midnight release at with a friend. :3 We did lots of stupid stuff at the theater, and I had way too much sugar. I had a horrible stomachache Thursday because I wasn't used to so much sugar, my parents think. ^.^;

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal alchemist. I only own Jonathan, Alexandria, and Melia.**

**

* * *

Chapter 3**

After all the greetings were done (which was just Ed trying to strangle Roy and the McInteras keeping that from happening), everyone sat down. Ed was fuming, sitting on a couch with Al. Alex and Jonathan sat opposite of them. Roy sat on the edge of his desk, calmly fixing his uniform.

"You still have a temper, Ed," Roy commented. Ed frowned.

"I don't want you, of all people, to call me 'pipsqueak'," he said. He glanced at Alex to see what she was doing. She was staring past Roy and at the windows at the rest of the Central HQ. "What was that all about? Whatever you and Alex were arguing about."

Alex abruptly stood up and left. Roy and Jonathan sighed.

"I'll go talk to her," Jonathan said, standing up. He turned to Roy. "Thanks for giving us your time, Fuhrer."

"I told you that Roy is fine, Jon."

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Despite his polite surface, Jonathan was oddly sarcastic. "I'll talk to you later, Roy, about that."

And with that, he left. Jonathan adapted quickly to the situation, much to the surprise of the Elrics. Roy brushed away all of their questions and instead got them into the conversation about what had happened while they were gone. There were still a shaky relationship with the countries from the north, south, and west, while Amestris and Xing had fairly decent relations. If any new homunculus had been created, they were keeping a low profile. The state alchemist system still existed, and Ed was unsure on if he even wanted to go back to being a state alchemist.

"Al's got his body back," Ed said. "I don't see why I have to-"

"You arm and leg," Al said. "We still need to get them back."

"I'm sure I can live without them."

"We promised."

Ed couldn't argue with that. With a sigh, he said, "I guess I need to see Winry again. Wonder where she and Granny are… See you later, Mustang."

"That's Fuhrer to you," Roy reminded him. There was a smirk on his face. Ed was all too sure this was just another attempt to get at him.

"Whatever." Behind him, Al and Roy said goodbye and the Elrics were off to find a place to stay. They bumped into Jonathan outside, who was looking very confused.

"Ah, hey," he said, not looking at them. He scanned the busy streets. "She ran off… I think she got mad at me. Do you two need a place to stay?" he asked suddenly.

"Yeah," Ed said, a bit taken aback by the sudden question.

"I know a good place that isn't military. Come on."

"What about Alex?"

"Probably off being all depressed again," Jonathan said. He didn't say it meanly, but it was like he didn't want to go after her. "I always lose her."

"I'll go find her."

Jonathan shrugged as if to say, "Do whatever you want". He led Al to a nice hotel. After getting two rooms, Jonathan tossed the keys to the second room at Al. He caught it.

"I'm tired," Jonathan said. He grinned sheepishly. "I'm being a bit mean right now, I think, to you, but I need some sleep."

"You do look horrible," Al said.

"I haven't slept in two days and it's getting to me." Jonathan headed up the stairs. Al stood still for a couple of seconds before exiting the hotel. He wandered around, bored, looking for something to do.

_I wonder where Brother is,_ Al thought. He was interrupted from his thoughts by a scream. He was being pushed by people frantic to escape something. Pushing his way through, he saw a busty brown-haired woman with a turtle neck shirt and a young boy with black hair that was tied back. Backing away from them slowly was a redheaded girl. She was a bit odd, with a small cat doll sticking out of her jacket pocket and several throwing knives in both hands. Her face was pale with fright.

"Stay away," she said. The boy noticed Al behind her, and he smirked.

"There isn't a point in staying much longer," he said to the woman. She nodded.

"True… But let's not leave without giving the two a gift."

"The two…?" The girl was taken aback. She whipped around and saw Al. Her face went even whiter. The woman lunged at Al, her fingers extending to be razor sharp and deadly. Al stepped backwards just as the woman shrieked and clutched at her side. There was a throwing knife embedded in her ribs.

"You ungrateful little girl!" the woman said. The girl ignored her and threw several more at both the boy and the woman. The shadows around the two writhed and grew before attacking the two. The boy yelled and ran away, pulling the daggers out of his side before vanishing. The woman hissed. She glanced between the girl and Al and grinned. She stabbed at Al, who stumbled back and narrowly avoided being impaled. It only scratched his shoulder. The girl threw another knife at the woman even though Al was in the way. Al ducked and avoided the knife. It struck the woman's forehead.

"You still have fight in you," she said before pulling the knife out of her forehead. Much to Al's shock, the wound vanished.

"You're a homunculus!" he said. She grinned evilly.

"Maybe." She followed the boy. The girl turned to Al.

"Were you trying to kill me?" Al asked.

"I knew you'd duck," she said simply. She stepped forward and touched the bleeding wound on his shoulder. "You got hurt because of me… Sorry."

"It's only a scratch," Al said. She grabbed his arm and studied it.

"Oh, good," she said with a hint of relief in her voice. "You need to get to the hospital."

"You just said 'oh, good'."

"Th-that's for something totally unrelated!" the girl said. "Who are you? I don't think I've ever seen you around here before."

"I'm Alphonse Elric. Who are you?"

She brushed her hair away from her brilliant blue eyes. "Melia Trader. Come on, you need some help."

"O-Ok!" Al let her drag him to the hospital. While they were tending to him, Melia stared absently out the window. She seemed troubled about something and continuously whispered something to herself and shook her head.

"Is something bothering you?"

She jumped at the sudden question, accidentally hitting her head against the window. "Ow! Um… No."

It was a lie and they both knew it. She leaned back, putting her head against the window. A nurse walked in and told Al that Ed had been contacted at the hotel. Al could only imagine what Ed would've said when he found out. So when Ed with Alex in tow ran into the room, Ed yelled, "What did you do?"

"Got into a fight," Al said. "Brother, I think it was a homunculus."

"What?! Didn't we kill them?"

"The one that ended up attacking me had the same powers as Lust."

Ed's groan was drowned out by Melia's scream. The two girls had been staring at each other for a while until one of them moved. It was Melia. She threw herself at Alex and hugged her tightly.

"Alexandria! It's been so long!"

"Who are you?" Alex managed to say before she was choked again by another killer hug from Melia.

"It's me, Mel! You know, the one who tripped Quin into the river?"

Alex laughed and hugged Melia back. "It is you! Jonathan and I were looking for you."

Upon noticing the Elrics' look of confusion, Alex hastily explained, "Melia is a childhood friend of mine."

Shortly after that discussion, they were allowed to leave. They stayed in the hallway for a while, talking about what to do next. Ed had called Winry at Rush Valley to tell her that he needed his automail again, so the brothers were planning to head there. Alex said that she needed to go to Rush Valley because she had no idea what the bullet may have done to her arm, so she was going to see her mechanic there. All questions about how she had gotten the arm were ignored. After that, it was almost as if they had to split up, but Melia managed to convince Ed and Al to visit her hometown, Feyora. With that agreed, they went into their separate rooms to get some sleep.

* * *

I've actually got nothing to say. . I'm still pretty tired and I've got one major headache coming up. D: Reviews are very welcome!


	5. Automail Mechanic Rivera,at Your Service

Sorry I haven't updated recently, I hit a block. I got over it, though, and typed up chapters 4 and 5. Expect chapter 5 soon!

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA... Otherwise, Ed would be taller. Oh, the ff authors wishing he were...**

**Chapter 4: Automail Mechanic Rivera, at Your Service**

Jonathan was just as surprised the next morning to see Melia. The three of them had been very close as kids. As Melia described it, "It's one big happy family in Feyora, pretty much."

But when Ed bugged Melia about Alex's automail, she wouldn't say anything. Sometimes she'd give really vague answers, but the one time she gave him a straight answer, she had said, "I wasn't around when it happened. I was outside". She looked really distressed when she said that. Her expression told Ed Alex had done something really stupid that resulted in her losing her arm and made Melia worry. He would've asked Jonathan, but Jonathan seemed to find excellent reasons to change the topic. Ed concluded they were probably hiding something.

There were no problems getting to Rush Valley. After calling Garfiel's, Ed found out that Winry was going to met them at the station. He could only hope that she wouldn't kill him. _Then again, what can she kill me for?_ Ed asked himself on the train. _I haven't broken any automail or anything. I don't even have automail!_

He was very wrong.

The very first thing Winry did when she saw him was tackle him and hugged (squeezed) as hard as she could. After flailing his arms to try and keep balance, Ed finally managed to choke out, "Winry! It's nice to see you and all, but your hug hurts!"

"You idiot!" she said. The brothers flinched when they saw that she was close to crying. Al jumped backwards when Winry smacked Ed-_ hard._ Alex, Jonathan, and Melia all exchanged a scared glance that didn't go unnoticed by Al. Melia grabbed Al's arm and whispered, "She's your friend?"

"Yeah."

"She's scary."

"You haven't seen her when Ed breaks his automail."

Melia laughed. "That must be pretty scary."

Al grinned. "Like you wouldn't believe."

Winry came over to Al and saw Melia. She smiled brightly. "Who's this, Al? Your girlfriend?"

Melia instantly let go of Al's arm and blushed. Al stammered, "N-no!"

"You two do make a cute couple, though," Jonathan said, popping in between Al and Melia. He put his arm around Melia's shoulder. Melia glared at him. Alex was trying to muffle her giggles behind Jonathan. He held out his other hand to Winry. "Hello, Miss. I'm Jonathan McIntera."

"I'm Winry Rockbell," she said. Behind her, Ed was muttering, "She's a demon…!"

Which brought another cheerful slap from Winry. Jonathan was unphased by it. He continued to smile cheerfully.

"Who are these two?" Winry asked, smiling at Melia. Alex was still behind Jonathan, still trying to keep from her laughter from growing loudly. She was obviously enjoying this.

"I'm Alexandria McIntera," Alex said. "I'm his sister."

"You two look nothing alike!"

"We get that a lot," Jonathan said. Melia shrugged off Jonathan's arm.

"I'm Melia Trader," she said. A look of recognition crossed Winry's face.

"You wouldn't happen to know Riley Rivera, would you?"

"RILEY?!" the three from Feyora yelled. They were oblivious to the stares they got from Ed and Al, as well as the other people in the station.

"Riles? It's been, what? Three years?" Jonathan said.

"Longer," Alex corrected. "It's been four."

Melia was a bit quieter than the siblings, but she still seemed excited.

"Would anyone care to explain what's going on?" Ed yelled. The three stopped and stared, as if he had been the one who was making the giant commotion, not them. Melia did explain, though.

"Riley's our friend," she explained. "He's a lot older than us, and he acted a bit like the dad for us kids. He left seven years ago to come here, to Rush Valley, to become an automail mechanic."

"He's my mechanic," Alex added. She didn't notice the glint in Winry's eyes. "But I haven't seen him in four years because Jonathan and I kept traveling. I forgot to go to him for maintenance, so, uh… That's why I was a bit worried about what the bullet would do."

"Where?" Winry asked.

"Uh… Excuse me?" Ed was making a frantic silent (failing) attempt at trying to keep Alex from answering without getting Winry to notice. Winry didn't notice, but Alex sent him a strange look.

"Your automail."

"Oh. Right arm." She took off the glove she was wearing and pushed up the sleeve. Winry grabbed at it. As they were walking, she kept bending it in different ways and commented on how different it was.

"How can you stand that?" Ed asked Alex.

"I'm used to it, actually," she said cheerfully. "When I go back to Feyora, everyone's wondering what Riles has been up to and they attack me."

Melia offered to go with the Elrics and Winry to Garfiel's, as Jonathan was reluctant to let Alex go off on her own. Alex grinned and said that she'd find her way over to Garfiel's eventually, as soon as Riley got her arm and she could leave. They split into two groups.

Winry got to work on making Ed's automail right after she measured. She disappeared off to the backroom, apologizing to Melia that she couldn't talk longer. Melia reassured it her it was perfectly okay. Within minutes, the three of them were bored, so Al suggested that they look around and see if they could find Riley's shop. After asking several people, they found out that Riley's shop was on the other side of Rush Valley. They found it to be an open shop. There were a few things near the front, all in glass cases, with price tags on them, and a few couches and seats.

A man with fair hair tied into a messy ponytail was leaning over an automail leg. His face was hidden by his bangs, but it was clear that he wasn't one to be messed with. Melia tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" he asked gruffly. He didn't turn.

"Turn around, you lazy bum!" Melia said. He stopped what he was doing and turned. His eyes were a dark green. "Long time no see, Riley."

"Mel!" He hugged Melia tightly. He glanced up at Ed and Al after releasing Melia from the hug. "Hello there. Riley Rivera, automail mechanic at your service."

After introducing themselves, Riley told them to make themselves comfortable while he went back to find Jonathan and Alex. After a few seconds, Riley came back out, asking if they wanted anything. Melia and Al politely declined, but Ed was starving and was unwilling to wait for dinner. Riley laughed and called to someone. Alex yelled back, saying that she had no idea where the food was. Then she said, "Oh, never mind! Jon found it."

"Like I said, one big happy family," Melia said, a small smile on her face. Riley kept up a decent conversation while working on the automail leg. Soon, Alex emerged from the back of the store with a teapot in one hand. The right sleeve was hanging there, her automail arm somewhere. She set it down on the table in front of the couch where Ed was lounging.

"Hope you like tea," she said, "because I'm not making anything else."

"Are you that lazy?" Ed asked.

"No, I'm not. I just don't want to make anything. It's hard enough to make things with this, you know." She waved her left hand in front of his face. Ed couldn't help but notice that her right leg twitched only a bit, as if she had just barely managed to restrain its movement.

"Where's Jonathan?" Al said. Alex didn't answer at first, going back to grab some cups. She set them down on the table and looked towards the back.

"Jonathan's trying to sleep, I think," she said. "I'm not quite sure."

"Typical Jon," Riley said, setting aside the automail leg. "That's done."

"That was fast."

"I work fast, Allie." He grabbed an automail arm and looked at it closely. It was deadly silent in the room. Alex was already sitting as far back into the couch as she could go, ducking her head so that her long hair hid her face. Ed sat up, looking first at Alex then at Riley. "Alexandria, what in the world happened to your arm?" Riley asked in a low voice.

"Oh, shit," she said, so softly that only Ed heard her. She raised her voice and said, "Uh, well, you see, I kind of, uh, forgot to… you know… Look after it?"

It was lame and she knew it. Riley glared at her, mini fires in his eyes. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU?"

"Eep!" Alex squeaked. "Sorry! Sorry! Really! I didn't mean to neglect it, it's just that I've been in fights and stuff and it kind of slips out of my mind and I'm sorrrrryyy!"

Riley sighed and set down the automail. "Geez, Allie, seriously. The fights you and Jonathan get into."

"Mrs. Claire told you, didn't she?" Alex said. Riley nodded and got to work on Alex's arm.

"…Whoa," was the first thing Ed said. "That was scary."

"You should've seen the first time I broke it," Alex sighed, scratching her neck. "He went ballistic and nearly killed me."

"You need to be more like Jon!" Riley said before subsiding into concentration. "Doesn't do anything stupid and doesn't break anything!"

Alex would've crossed her arms if she had her right arm. "Like I need reminding!"

Al, Melia, Alex, and Ed just went on talking about their lives. Alex and Melia were more than willing to give up little things, but it was clear on both of their faces that they were hiding something. The brothers didn't press it, although Ed was determined to find out what it was. Riley only pitched in to clarify certain things, but if he knew what they were keeping secret, he didn't mention it. As it grew dark outside, Ed and Al got up.

"Sorry we can't stay longer," Al said. Riley only smiled and waved before going back to the automail. Alex got up and walked with them a bit.

"Thanks for coming," she said, looking down at the ground.

"It's nothing," Ed said. "You know, back there, it felt like you guys were really family."

"Riley's almost ten years older than Jonathan. In a sense, he's our 'dad'," Alex said with a smile grin.

"What happened to your parents?" Al asked.

Alex bit her lip and shook her head.

"That's a touchy subject, isn't it? Sorry," Al apologized quickly.

"No, it's fine. Mom died when I was seven. Dad's gone."

"Gone where?"

Alex shrugged. "Somewhere."

_Almost like Hoenheim, _Ed thought crossly at the similarities between the fathers. _Gone._

She turned and started walking, waving with her left. Something was off about her steps. Ed and Al got back to Garfiel's just before dinner. After avoiding Winry's wrench for coming back so late, Garfiel, Ed, Al, and Winry all sat down to eat. Al was asleep, but sleep just wouldn't come to Ed. He sat at the window, looking out, the sounds of Rush Valley seemingly unnaturally loud. He wanted to know what Alex was trying so hard to hide.

* * *

Ok, so maybe the end of this chapter was lame, but chapter 5 is better! I promise! Please, please, PLEASE, someone review. I love reviews so much and they help me think.

* * *


End file.
